Carlow will become the countryâ€™s very first completely wireless-enabled broadband town later today as a result of a collaboration between metropolitan area network (MAN) provider e-Net and Carlow County Council.

Right…. but what does completely enabled mean?

The new network will be deployed three years ahead of Dublinâ€™s proposed Wi-Fi network and will cover 50pc of businesses and 10pc of homes in Carlow town.

Bad enough that other telcos and associations have been talking horseshit about availability and coverage for years. Now ENet are starting this dishonest game. But of course it gets better.

Tiger economy, low unemployment rates? Yup, them too.

Pointing to statistics from IDA Ireland, he said that in 2004 only 20pc of new jobs were announced in the 27 phase one towns where MANs have been built. This increased to 40pc in 2005 and 60pc in 2006. â€œI would never say that that was down to the MANs on their own but I have to believe that we are having some impact.

He forgets to point out the timeframe when the MANs went live in those towns. How many small businesses are connected to MANs? How many can afford the 1000s a month to connect?

UPDATE: Via Evert in the comments is the fact that this whole farce was funded by the taxpayers at a cost of 3Million, from the Irish Times:

The Carlow start-up project has cost €3 million, with 90 per cent of the cost provided by the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources and 10 per cent by the local authorities.

3 Million for 11 access points and then to charge the same taxpayers to access it? Sickening. That’s 5-10 exchanges that could be upgraded for that.

Via Paddy Anglican is the clip of Buddy Jesus. Stephen is actually an Anglican priest. At the wedding I was recently at and I swear to < insert deity here > this is true, the mural inside over the church doors had a Jesus that pretty much was doing the Buddy Jesus pose. Really odd.